Today, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released its updated 10-year projections for the federal budget and the U.S. economy, providing a timely reminder less than two weeks before the first presidential debate of the 2024 campaign that the federal budget is on an unsustainable path. The Concord Coalition is calling upon the candidates to level with the American people about the magnitude of the fiscal challenge and to propose viable solutions.
“The rising deficits projected by CBO must not be accepted as the new normal. Doing so would harm the economy, endanger retirement security, jeopardize national security, diminish crucial investments in our workforce and infrastructure, and eventually risk a fiscal crisis. All of this would condemn today’s younger Americans to a life of cleaning up the mess we’re leaving them,” said Bob Bixby executive director of The Concord Coalition.
“If the presidential candidates want to do something about that, they should tell us what they have in mind at next week’s debate,” Bixby added.
The latest CBO update demonstrates what awaits in the next presidential term and beyond.
- Annual deficits average $2.2 trillion (6.3 percent of GDP) over the next 10 years.
- Debt held by the public reaches an historic high in 2027 (106.2 percent of GDP).
- Interest costs reach an historic high in 2025 (3.4 percent of GDP).
- Interest costs will surpass defense spending and rival Medicare as the second largest expense.
- Entitlement spending plus interest consumes all revenues in 2025.
- Congress could eliminate discretionary spending in 2025, including defense, and still have a deficit.
At the same time, a number of significant decisions affecting the path of future deficits must be made within the next few years. These include:
- The 2025 expiration of temporary tax cuts enacted in 2017.
- The expiration in 2025 of enforceable discretionary spending caps enacted as part of the 2023 Fiscal Responsibility Act.
- The renewal of the statutory debt limit in January 2025.
- The projected depletion of the Social Security (OASDI) and Medicare HI trust funds in about 10 years
“These action-forcing events provide a critical opportunity for policymakers to do more than kick the can down the road once again,” Bixby said.
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The Concord Coalition is a nonpartisan, grassroots organization dedicated to fiscal responsibility. Since 1992, Concord has worked to educate the public about the causes and consequences of the federal deficit and debt, and to develop realistic solutions for sustainable budgets. For more fiscal news and analysis, visit concordcoalition.org and follow us on Facebook @ConcordCoalition and on Twitter/X: @ConcordC
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